Wendy Bacon Journalist, activist
MenuThere has been an earthquake in the Pacific which has killed people in the Solomom Islands. I heard on the news that there was a tsunami warning for PNG. It did cross my mind to wonder if the Australian, PNG or Nauruan governments had given any thought to the extra responsibility of caring for asylum seekers if a natural disaster should occur on Manus Island in PNG or Nauru.
Asylum seekers have welcomed the court action to have the Manus Island centre declared unconstitutional. Detainees told NM contributing editor Wendy Bacon about being forcibly removed to PNG.
Several days ago, 18 year old Hediye, who has been detained/imprisoned on Manus Island by the Australian Gillard Labor government, posted this story on an asylum seekers facebook site. I am reposting it here on my blog so it can easily continue to be found.
NM's contributing editor Wendy Bacon is in contact with inmates on Manus Island. The news is not good. An atmosphere of despair prevails at the centre and children are being exposed to self harm.
StopLynas activists visited Sydney in 2012. Wendy Bacon met them at a meeting organised by Greens MP Jamie Parker.This led to a New Matilda investigation.
№ 2 in Lynas and its missing waste plan
Scientists and community leaders are concerned about radioactive waste from Lynas' Malaysian plant but the company representative who took Wendy Bacon's questions brushed off the criticism.
№ 1 in Lynas and its missing waste plan
Australian-owned company Lynas is quietly shipping rare earth to a processing plant in Malaysia - without a firm plan in place to dispose of dangerous radioactive waste. Wendy Bacon reports.
Most of the focus on today's Federal Court judgement in the case brought by ex-Federal Parliament Speaker Peter Slipper against his staffer James Ashby will be on the central finding that Ashby's sexual harrassment case against his ex-boss was an abuse of process.
Yesterday, in a dramatic backdown, the Australian government agreed to allow 56 Tamils asylum seekers who were due to be deported to Sri Lanka to make applications to be granted asylum as refugees. Today, the Australian government is once again planning to deport another group of Tamils who have been subject to a "screening out" process which denies them the right to proceed with a a full refugee application.
Today, the Australian government released more than 500 men, most of whom are Sri Lankan, from detention on bridging visas into the community. Most of these men have arrived since August when the Gillard government reintroduced its harsh new policy aimed at deterring people from traveling by boat to seek asylum.